Recap

Close result against competition leaders for Dirty Twos

By CHRIS GORDON

A late surge wasn’t enough to put the Goulburn Dirty Twos over the line in their 21-14 loss to Royal Military College, Duntroon.

It was an unremarkable game for both sides with few moments that stood out but there were some positives for the Goulburn side.

RMC, who are only fielding a second grade side this year, are undefeated in that grade and such a close result against the competition leaders by Goulburn suggests a win is within their grasp. And since Goulburn’s score was within 7 points of RMC, the Dirty Twos picked up a bonus point.

But aside from that the match wasn’t one for the scrapbooks.

RMC were the more dominant team and deserved the win. In fact the scoreline, bolstered by a try to Goulburn in the dying minutes, probably flattered Goulburn.

The men from Duntroon had a clear edge in the scrum and a slight edge in the lineout, although the referee policed lineouts for both sides quite stringently, offering a very small margin of error for throw-ins.

And it wasn’t a game without some great individual efforts by Goulburn across the field but they remained disconnected and undirected for the most part.

At half time, RMC held a 14-7 lead, and each side added a converted try in the second section.

Goulburn’s final try, and the last points of the match, was pretty symbolic of the game… a lot of good bits that fell apart. Goulburn applied pressure on the RMC line for a lengthy period but their try-scoring opportunities were undone not only by RMCs defence but also by dropped ball and poor attacking options.

RMC will also take little solace from the game, botching a number of their own scoring chances.

In the end, a pretty good result, but not a great game of rugby. As coach Ben Pearson said after the game, that’s not a situation that will change in the absence of training and preparation as a unit.

One highlight of the match was the gazelle-like length-of-the-field run by Justin “Ricky Bobby” Benn in cover defence. Did I say length of the field? He started from the change rooms.  The run MAY have been a little less but the legend of Ricky Bobby deserves the odd exaggeration.

Next weekend all three Goulburn senior teams will be in action at Poidevin Oval, with first and reserve grade playing Easts and the women playing Uni Norths.

Best and fairest points went to Harry Newby (3), Connor Minehan (2), Hamish McCormack (1) and Michael Cooke (1) with Cooke and Minehan sharing the Players Player votes.

RMC 21 (Thomas Bruce, San Allen, Max Burgess tries, Jason Badenhorst 3 conversions) bt Goulburn 14 (Connor Minehan, Jacob Kara tries, Hamish McCormack 2 conversions).